Amal Clooney helped the International Criminal Court (ICC) assess the evidence that led to the decision to seek arrest warrants for influential Israeli and Hamas leaders.
The high-profile British-Lebanese lawyer posted a statement on the website of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, which she founded with her husband, US actor George Clooney, AFP reported.
Both she and the foundation were earlier criticized on social media for not speaking out on the number of civilian casualties in Gaza.
Clooney said she had been asked by prosecutor Karim Khan to join a panel of experts to "assess evidence of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Israel and Gaza."
The statement came on the same day that Khan announced he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Galant, as well as senior Hamas leaders.
"Despite our differing personal experiences, our legal conclusions are unanimous," Clooney said, adding that there were "reasonable grounds to believe" that Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas were involved in "hostage-taking, murder and crimes of sexual violence."
In the case of Netanyahu and Gallant, there are "reasonable grounds to believe" that both were involved in "inducing starvation as a method of warfare, murder, persecution and extermination."
Khan thanked Clooney in his statement announcing the decision to seek the arrest warrants.
Clooney and other committee members also wrote an opinion piece in the Financial Times supporting the ICC's prosecution of war crimes in the conflict.
As Hamas, Israel and chief ally the United States condemned the move, the experts wrote that they "unanimously agree that the prosecutor's work was rigorous, fair and justified by the law and the facts."
"My approach is not to provide a running commentary on my work, but to let the work speak for itself.I served on this panel because I believe in the rule of law and the need to protect civilian lives," Clooney said.
"The law that protects civilians in war was developed over 100 years ago and applies in every country in the world, regardless of the causes of a conflict," she concluded. / BGNES
